Privacy Notice

What we collect

• Account details from Google or Facebook when you sign in: your name, email, and profile photo.
• Family information you add: names, relationships, dates of birth/death, places, gotram, caste/community (for your own family group), photos, and optional phone/email for relatives.
• Technical data: a sign-in token stored in your browser, and basic logs needed to operate and secure the Service.

Why we collect it

Only to run the family tree builder: to sign you in, store and display your tree, and let owners and stewards manage it. We do not sell your personal information and we do not use third-party advertising or analytics.

Who sees what

Visibility follows how closely a viewer is related to a person (a “relation zone”). In plain words:

• Close family and owners/stewards of a family group can see full details, including a living person’s sensitive fields.
• More distant relatives see names and relationships, but sensitive details of living people (date of birth, phone, email) are hidden.
• The public / visitors to a public family group see only limited, non-sensitive information. Contact details and minors’ details are never shown publicly.

You choose what to add, and a claimed person can hide their own sensitive fields at any time.

How long we keep it

When you delete a record it is soft-deleted: it disappears from the tree immediately and can be restored for 30 days, after which it is permanently purged. Family records that others also rely on may go through a short review before removal.

Your rights & how to use them

Under the DPDP Act you can:

• Access & download your data (a JSON copy) — from Data & privacy.
• Correct your information in the app, or request a correction on records you can’t edit.
• Erase: delete records, or if you have claimed your own profile, instantly hide your sensitive fields (self-hide) from Data & privacy.
• Manage cross-product sharing (e.g. Sambandhalu) and revoke it any time.

Nomination of a representative is not available in this version.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account at any time — in the Android app under Account & privacy → Delete my account, or on the web at santhati.com/account/delete. Deletion immediately removes your name, email, phone number, profile photo and sign-in link, signs you out everywhere, and closes the branches you own or edit, your unaccepted invitations and open requests.

The people, families and photographs you added to a tree are shared family records held by the family group, not by your account; they stay in place and no longer point back to you. Delete a record from the tree first if you want it gone too (30-day restore window, then purged), or ask us at the address below. Consent entries and audit history are kept against an anonymised id as the legal record.

Reporting, blocking and moderation

Names, photographs and details of relatives are added by users. Anyone can report a person, family or family group from its page in the app (spam, privacy, wrong relationship, duplicate, ownership). Reports open a case that Santhati moderators review; privacy reports are handled first, and content that breaks the Terms is hidden or removed.

You can blockanother user from their access request in your Inbox, from an invitation they sent you, or manage blocks under Account & privacy. A blocked user cannot send you access requests or invitations, and their pending requests disappear from your inbox. Blocks are private to you.

Grievances & contact

For any privacy question, correction, or data request, email info@santhati.com. We also offer support over WhatsApp for the same requests.

Changes

We may update this notice; material changes will be reflected by the “Last updated” date above.